Maruti Vitara Brezza-rivaling Citroen SUV: In the works

It has been in public knowledge that French automaker Citroen will soon mark its debut in India. The company showcased its first vehicle for India last month in the form of the C5 Aircross, which will be launched in 2020. During the showcase event, Citroen also revealed that it will launch a car every year for the next three years and one of them is a model that will make its international debut in India. A recent report by Autocar India now suggests that the next Citroen car for India will be a sub-4 meter SUV based on the C3 Aircross compact SUV.

This new SUV-crossover will challenge other players in the segment like the Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza, Tata Nexon, Ford Ecosport, Mahindra XUV300 and Hyundai Venue among others. While the C5 Aircross will be the debut vehicle for Citroen in India and will position it as a premium European brand, it will be the C3 Aircross based sub-4 meter SUV that will act as the volume driver for the company. It will be launched in 2021, which means there’s still a lot of time before the sub-4 meter Citroen SUV gets launched.

As already mentioned, this new sub-4m SUV will be a shortened version of the C3 Aircross. However, it will be underpinned by a different platform which will be developed specifically for India. Further, the car will have a localisation level of 90-95 per cent which would result in lower prices. Since the Indian market is a bit price conscious, Citroen might aim for Rs. 7 lakh as the starting price of the car in order to stay competitive. The external body design of this SUV will be inspired a lot by the C3 Aircross and will essentially be a smaller twin to it. Since both the C5 and C3 Aircross look more like crossovers than SUVs, the same curvy design will be present on the new sub-4 meter SUV too.

Talking about the engine options that will come on the new sub-4 meter SUV, the report suggests that it will be available with three engine options. The petrol engine will be a 1.2-litre, three-cylinder motor but will come in two versions, one naturally aspirated and one in the turbocharged state. The naturally aspirated vaersion would churn out around 83 Bhp of power while the turbocharged version could have output in the range of 110 Bhp. Coming to the diesel engine, it will be a 1.5-litre DV5 unit that was co-developed by PSA and Ford. The Citroen compact SUV will come with a 6-speed manual gearbox, which again, will be locally manufactured to lower costs. An automatic box could be made available at a later stage. The made-for-India sub-4 meter SUV by Citroen will also be exported around the world with Latin America being the main market.